Charles W. Alcock, was an Old Harrovian, who "formalised" the FA Cup, based on the nter "House" competition at Harrow School, a knock out competition, played between the boys' boarding houses. These were always taken very seriously, since the boys organised their teams and the competition. The winning team became "Cock House".
The first FA Cup Committee meeting was held on July 20th 1871, when the FA breathed life into the new idea of The FA Challenge Cup. On Feb 13th 1872 the Committee met to decide the design of the trophy. The company Hall&Co won the contract to produce it.
The FA Cup competition kicked off in November 1871 with 15 teams: Round 1 was as follows (but fairly complicated):
Barnes beat Civil Service (fielding only 8 men) 2-0, Hampstead Heathens had a Bye, Maidenhead beat Marlow 2-0, Hitchin and Crystal Palace drew 0-0...so both clubs were given a Bye,
Queen's Park (Glasgow) got a Bye v Donington School (S. Lincolnshire) also given a Bye because they couldn't decide a date to play on.
Royal Engineers (Chatham) had a walk over v Reigate Priory, Upton Park v Clapham Rovers (0-3) and Wanderers walked over v Harrow Chequers. Queen's Park donated a guinea (£1 and 1s) to the cost of the cup and engraving. The weekly wage at the time was under £1.
In Round 2: it was still quite complicated:
Barnes and Hampstead Heathens drew 1-1 with the Heathens winning the replay 1-0. Crystal Palace beat Maidenhead 3-0 Hitchen lost to Royal Engineers 0-5 and the game only lasted 60 minutes. Queens Park had a walk over BYE to Donnington School...who wouldn't travel to Glasgow! Wanderers beat Clapham Rovers 3-1
Round 3: slightly complicated
Queens Park BYE (NOTE they were given a bye through to the semi-final to help them with travel expences): Royal Engineers beat Hampstead Heathens 3-0: Wanderers v Crystal Palace 0-0 both given BYES to the next round.
Semi-Finals:
Royal Engineers v Crystal Palace ended 0-0 then 3-0 to the RE: Wanderers drew with Queens Park from Glasgow 0-0 , then had a walk over as QP could not afford to travel for the replay!
Final: Wanderers beat The Royal Engineers 1-0 on March 16th 1872 at The Oval. 2000 attended.
There were no shirt numbers, players wore club caps/socks to distinquish their "colours". The BALL size was standardised on October 3rd 1872 with Lillywhite's No 5 the favourite and had to be 27-28 inches in circumference.) The throw-in was one handed taken by the team that touched the ball first after it had left the field...hence "touch line". There were no field markings inside the touchlines, the cross bar was a length of rope, much of the game was based on "dribbling", passing was very unusual.
The following season, Wanderers were given byes to the FINAL, where they met and beat Oxford University 2-0. This idea ceased the following season.
In the first 12 seasons, the four winners of the "little tin idol" (below) were:- the Wanderers (5 times out of the first 7), Old Etonians (6 finals 2 wins), The Royal Engineers and Oxford University (4 finals 1 win each). It was a competition of pride NOT financial gain. The finalists were all from the south. Sheffield were the first "northern" club to join in 1873-4 with the Shropshire Wanderers.
In 1879-80 Blackburn Rovers entered the competition with Aston Villa, Birmingham, Darwen and gradually more "professionals" signed up for the cup. The Rovers lost to the Old Etonians in the 1881-2 final 1-0, but from then the professionals, including Fergus Suter, took over (See "The English Game" TV series-Netflix-see link below.) The Old Etonians were the last "amateurs" to reach the final, losing to Blackburn Olympic, the first northern club to take the cup away from the south. Have a look at Fergus Suter (below) and his mates from the TV series as Blackburn Olympic and then Blackburn Rovers win the next four finals. Suter was a cup winner in 1884 and 85 and 6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2m6v0KlbSI
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/3994718670252035536/626942725835986106
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